


nobody got a thing on me

by llwydion



Series: a peek into alternate timelines (sw do-overs) [5]
Category: Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: "been hiding out on the Death Star" Cody, "i have regrets so i'll join the rebel alliance" Rex, Angst, Cody and Rex have many regrets, Gen, Really Lots of Angst, continuation of "i'll show you how to live for free", literally a single swear word, rated T for a swear word, tw: suicidal intent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-03
Updated: 2018-02-03
Packaged: 2019-03-12 23:22:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13557747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/llwydion/pseuds/llwydion
Summary: Impulsively, Cody shoves past his General, shielding him from harm. Better he take a blaster shot than his General.Rex steps forward.(alternatively, What Happens After Cody rescues his General on the Death Star)





	nobody got a thing on me

**Author's Note:**

> title from Barns Courtney's "Kicks"
> 
> this is a sequel to "i'll show you how to live for free", from earlier in this series. you don't need to read that one to understand this, but basically the rundown is that Cody was there when Ben was fighting Vader and decided that nope, my General's not dying today, and escaped with Ben and Luke and co.
> 
> see end notes for more specifics on the tw

Cody’s not sure what to expect, really, when General Kenobi (and he will _always_ be his General, even if his job title changes) comms him as he’s arriving on this dusty iceball, Hoth.

“Cody?”

“Sir, Cody here.”

“Good to hear from you, Cody. Status?”

“Dropping out of hyperspace in two hours, sir. No casualties, and we have successfully retrieved the weapons cache from our old base.”

“Good. There’s someone here to see you, when you get out. I’ll have him wait with the rest of your welcoming party in the hangar bay, when you dock.”

“Sir?”

When General Kenobi speaks next, he sounds unsure. It’s not a tone that Cody likes, because more often than not it means that the General has had a Very Bad Feeling.

Apparently, the General can still read minds (his brothers had a running bet on whether or not that was a Jedi trick, back in the war), or maybe it’s the hesitation in his own voice that gives it away.

“Don’t worry, he’s an old friend.”

* * *

The door opens slowly, with a loud creak. Cody winces. They need to get that oiled soon, since the Alliance’s resources are slowly dwindling and every ship helps.

He’s greeted by General Kenobi, who greets him warmly with a clap on the back, worried blue eyes scanning over both him and his men for injuries that weren’t reported. When he sees none, he smiles and gestures to the right.

There’s a single man standing there, face half-hidden in shadow.

Suddenly, he’s chilled to the core, and it has nothing to do with the icy temperatures.

It’s been a while since he’s seen his own face on others. He’s gotten used to the Alliance and its mixed bag of recruits, hailing from across the galaxy. Former Imperial pilots, troopers (like himself), young men and women whose homes have been razed and destroyed by the Empire, former Jedi, and so on. The only thing unifying these people is a common need to see the Empire destroyed, its rotten core ripped out and burned to ashes.

Their hatred and fear remind him strongly of another group of men, once upon a time, who were programmed from birth to be good at what they did, and they were _good_. Good enough to fight battles, to win wars, to be controlled until they killed their very own allies, the people who had protected them, had shed blood for them, had wept with them for their fallen brothers.

He’s a relic of a past that he doesn’t want to think of, and here is yet another threat to his General.

Impulsively, Cody shoves past his General, shielding him from harm. Better he take a blaster shot than his General.

Rex steps forward.

(because it’s always them two, after all, always stuck in the worst situations with the worst odds and two reckless Generals who get the job done quite brilliantly but can’t take care of themselves for shit, and he and Rex were always running around cleaning up their mess, making sure they were eating and sleeping, because even Jedi can only do so much and their Generals wanted to do so much more)

He still remembers the eerily blank faces of his brothers as they fired on their own General. Remembers the spark of horror and shame in their eyes as he commanded them to fire.

(“Blast him,” he had said, then watched in muted horror as his General fell off the cliff into the hole below.

He remembers getting the chip out as soon as he is released from Sidious’ thrall, but it is too little, too late, because his General is dead and the Jedi have fallen and his brothers as he knew them are gone and General Skywalker is no more, and at one point he looked at the business end of his blaster and considered holding it to his head and pulling the trigger.

But his programming is too good for that, and he begins to hear whispers of an Alliance opposing the Empire, and Darth Vader is antsy and keeps commanding them to find any trace of his old Master, and he waits and watches until the day his General returns with a young Skywalker in tow and a stupidly sacrificial plan in his head.)

He sees the same horror reflected in Rex’s eyes, and in that moment he knows that deep down inside, his brother feels the same anguish he does.

They look at each other for another long moment, then Rex wordlessly slings an arm around his shoulder.

“ _Ner vod_ ,” he whispers. 

Cody’s vision is suddenly blurry, and he discreetly swipes at them with his free hand.

“ _Vor entye, vod_ ,” he whispers back, and for a moment they are just Rex and Cody, grieving for the lost and the fallen and the missing.

“Come on, I need to show you around our new base. General Kenobi’s told me to do so.”

He looks over his shoulder at his General, who is standing there quietly with his hands in his sleeves. His General waves him off with a slight smile on his face.

And as he walks towards the warmth of the living quarters with his brother’s arm around his shoulders and his General’s soothing gaze at his back, he feels warm for the first time since Utapau.

**Author's Note:**

> trigger warning due to (brief) mention of suicidal intent. it's not carried out (thankfully), but it's there.
> 
> Ner vod = my brother (Mando'a)  
> Vor entye, vod = thank you, brother (Mando'a)
> 
> (on a happier note, hello, i resurface after my three-day-hell-period! mostly because i'm procrastinating on readings)
> 
> thank you SO MUCH to my lovely commentors who said they wanted to see the continuation! (i too wanted a continuation but was too unmotivated to get there until just now, so thank you for that)


End file.
